Wrapping Up A Thrifty December & 2020

 

I finished the month of November with a little more than $60 in my checking account, $17 in my wallet, just over an eighth of a tank of fuel left in my car, a full gas tank in my truck and headed into December with no bills due.  At all!  Not to mention I had finished up all of my Christmas shopping as well last month and had nearly all of the food for holiday meals already purchased and in our pantry and freezers.  To say we are truly blessed would be a complete understatement.  We are incredibly fortunate right now.  I thank God daily for the abundance we have.

 

2020 has been an incredible year for us as it has been for so many people.  We have all been affected by the pandemic in more ways than one and we can all say this is not the year we were expecting it to be at all.  The challenges we have faced have been enormous.  I know that I have been tested a lot this year, but in spite of everything that has been thrown our way we have stayed strong and stayed the course. In fact, in spite of everything we have faced, it has actually been one of our better years.

 

I knew that for us to survive and even to thrive this year we would have to knuckle under and work really hard.  For myself I knew that I've been through worse but in no way did I want to lose the gains I'd made in recent years and face starting over.  Not again.  But if I had to I also knew I could do it.  I also knew my chances of getting through this would be so much better if I worked hard, eliminated as much debt as I could and saved as much money as I could so we were better prepared.

 

When the SHTF on March 13th and we all realized things were about to change in a very big way all three of us got very busy.  My girls went down to our neighborhood Albertson's store the very next day and applied for jobs.  They were hired on the spot and to this day continue to work there (my oldest transferred to a store near her college during the summer) and they work hard.  I went to work every day at my job and took advantage of any overtime hours available.  There has been a lot of overtime available for me and that extra income has been an enormous help.

 

First thing on my list, I got busy and made sure my emergency fund was fully funded and added an extra $1000 to it, just in case.  At the same time I also worked on paying off my car.  I was able to top up the emergency fund when my income tax refund arrived and when the COVID stimulus payments came I used most of it to finish paying off the car and the rest paid off a small credit card bill I had.  I continued to save and pay off bills and in May, with the dramatic change in mortgage interest rates, I refinanced our home and used some of my equity to finish paying off the remaining medical debt we had which left us with only a mortgage and no more debt.  With that accomplished I started to add more to my savings, HSA and retirement accounts.  I also began prepping for long term food and household supplies.  And I did that on an extreme budget too.  With that completed I moved on to adding extra pet food and supplies for our animals.

 

With our new debt freedom we continue to live the same as we always have with the same modest budgets for food, clothes, fuel, entertainment (what's that?) and miscellaneous expenses.  We joke that we live like paupers, but the reality is we don't need to live any other way at the moment.  Our needs are met, we have most of the things we want and we are extremely content.  In spite of everything that has happened this past year we are doing very well.

 

Of course my greatest fear is that something might happen (you know, waiting for the other shoe to drop?) and our circumstances will change again, however, if they do, and that is always a possibility, I'm better prepared than I have ever been.  And with that I have greater peace of mind than I've ever had before.  I thank God every single day for all that He has blessed us with and I pray daily that things will continue to go well for us.  I also pray for those that are struggling and we help out whenever we can too.  I feel that is very important for us to do.

 

So while 2020 was a hard year it was also a very good year and even though a lot of bad things happened I choose to focus more on all the really good things that happened instead.  What will 2021 have in store for us?  I honestly do not know.  But, as I am right now, I will continue to be humble and grateful and to work really, really hard.  And as long as we are willing to do that I know we will be okay.  I am definitely ready for 2021.  Please be good to us.